Spanish Practices

Monday and the day Bruce Forsyth didn't play his cards right, community swimming pools and dirty rain.  The daily Podcast diary of a British couple in Lockdown Spain, phase 2. Find out more: https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 78 Brucie Bonus Monday oh how I loathe you, but only because it rained last night for 10 minutes, but it was that dirty calima rain, the brown sand from the Sahara fell and covered everywhere in a sticky glaze. So we spent an hour this morning clearing it up from the outside terraces.   If you don’t it finds its way into you home and gets trodden onto the tiles like Man Friday footprints.   Phase 2 here in Granada Province, more restaurants are now opening, the beaches are opening, you can get married and go to a funeral. I think that’s about it, I am confused.  We have kinda got into a pattern now, so are quite happy to make minimal journey’s and eat at home, for the moment.   We are lucky we have outdoor space and a pool, for many Spanish living in small flats with large families – it

Today the story of a railway porter who transformed the whole of the Spanish tourism industry, a story that involves a Bikini and General Franco.   Find out more: https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 77 Benidorm Brits and Bikini’s   Sunday, the eve of Phase 2 and another step toward the new normal here in Spain.  Today the Spanish Tourism Minister Maria Reyes Maroto has said that the UK must improve the Covid19 rates before Britain’s can be allowed to come back to Spain for their holidays.   Last year just over 18 million Brits visited Spain with just over 65 million from other countries so about 11% of all tourists in Spain are British.   In the next couple of weeks Spain will open up some test corridors from other European countries with a wider expansion on the 1st of July.   The Daily Mail was suitably outraged by the statement from Spain, with an editorial suggesting Brits should stay at home.  They have a point.  I very rarely read the comments written in the Daily Mail but this one made me chuckle from V

Saturday and the weekend has come with some bad news if you are planning a party in Spain, this is the story of a British couple behind the police lines in Spain, a daily diary of Lockdown.   Find out more: https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 76 Fiestas and the F-Word Saturday, and the weekend has come, and with it a rise in Spaniards testing positive for Coronavirus, it would seem, that “somebody said we are having a fiesta”   Nearly all the new cases are from people getting together for a party, in one case 80 people, four of which were asymptomatic virus carriers.   Un doing the lockdown is not without its risks and the Health Authority were expecting a rise, at the moment the victims have been traced, it is when random people contract the virus not connected with events like parties that the problems begin again.   The places where there have been outbreaks have been either held or returned to a lower phase.  The Spanish are taking this all very seriously, no mucking about.   Meanwhile in Southend on Sea t

Today how we lost a cool £49,000 to a Spanish bank, that we will never see again.  Property nightmares and how to avoid them, here in Spain. Find out more: https://www.thesecretspain.com Disclaimer, we do NOT receive any remuneration from advertising, the views expressed our our own and not others.   Day 75 - Property Nightmares   Friday, Day 75 phase 1 and the blind men are still here, it is confirmed that we will be in Phase 2 by Monday, I we are still a little confused as to what extra benefit there is, we believe that more shops with a bigger floor space can open, but neither of us is absolutely sure.   Martin Myall the Editor of the Seaside Gazette makes a good point about yesterday’s drop in old people claiming their pensions. Normally new pensioners pop off to an office to sign up for their new pension, but at the moment this has to be done online, and as many Spanish pensioners are not internet savvy, they haven’t claimed their pensions yet.   A quite depressing sight greeted us on Facebook yesterday.

Today shady European Deals and shady terraces, as we continue our daily diary of Lockdown, Spanish style. Find out more: https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 74 shady deals   Thursday has arrived and we are awaiting the blind men, not that they are actually blind, but they are hopefully going to fit the awning blinds that run along the top of our pergola.   Some rather sad but predictable news from the Spanish economy, and that is 38,508 fewer pensions were paid out last month as the Covid19 virus has been especially lethal amongst Spain’s ageing population. This is also the third month in a row the pension bill has declined.   The E.U. has finally moved into action and there is a plan to help the Spanish economy to the tune of 140 Billion Euros.  But that plan does depend on all 27 member states agreeing a rescue package principally for Spain, Italy and then smaller amounts for the rest of the Union.   European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen says “We either all go it alone, leaving countries, region

Wednesday and there is news that tourists coming to Spain will be greeted by beach vigilantes, who will be employed to make sure we all socially distance and bathe in the correct safe way. Day 73 of Spanish Lockdown for a British couple and their three-good legs cat.   Find out more here: https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 73 Beach Vigilantes Wednesday week two of Phase 1 and we learn that the Spanish Government is going to make sure that you naughty old tourists behave yourself on the costas, if you decide to take a holiday abroad here. Three thousand vigilantes will be hired by the Junta to police the beaches and make sure your Parasol is the right distance between the family social distance sitting next to you. They will be paid 1,900 Euros a month for the summer period. It will cost 24 million Euros the Vigilantes will report to the Policia Local. It is worth just pausing a moment to explain the police services here in Spain there are three main types.  The Guardia who dress like a scary military army, th

Could legally growing marijuana save Spains Economy? Today the whole podcast is going to pot, after all it is time we started to chill and relax, before the onslaught of tourists arrive here in Spain.  This is the daily diary of a British couple in Phase 1 Lockdown in Spain.   Find out more here: https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 72 gone to pot   It is Tuesday, and today we celebrate 1,918 lives not taken by the virus, the Health Ministry mis-calculated the figures which represent a 7% drop in the number of deaths.   You can endlessly criticise the statistics and method used to collect the data, as Mark Twain once said, “There are lies, damn lies and statistics.” But this is still good news.   Less good news is that the Health Ministry is only testing about half the suspected cases of Covid19, which makes an even bigger mockery of the un-lockdown phases that Spain has imposed on the country, with some parts still in zero and a bit, some in Phase 1 like our province and some in Phase 2.   I looked at the IKEA

Monday and day 71, and a few tips about buying a property here in Spain and what you need to do as a Brit, before January 2020. Find out more: https://www.thesecretspain.com   Day 71 Peseta Pats Monday of week two of phase 1, we are still confused about why we have not moved to Phase 2, so I asked my Spanish neighbour from Granada.   “There are not enough beds in the Hospital, of the critical kind.”  She said.  It would appear one of the worries is a flood of inter-province holiday makers would risk overwhelming the hospital.  I suppose the answer to that would be to add more beds.   I think all hospitals will have to re-think their ICU facilities and what is required to look after and keep alive patients with Covid19.   Monday is accounts day, and Chris is going through the Community payments for our Estate, he is the joint Treasurer. If you live in an Urbanised Estate or a block of flats you will have what amounts to a resident’s association with the power to collect fees and make decisions about any buildi

Day 70 of Lockdown, and Spain will be open for tourists in July says Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez today.  What will it mean, and what is it like for tourists here along the Granada coast? The daily dairy Podcast of a British couple and their three good legs cat, living on the Costa Tropical. Find out more here: https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 70 "Tourist Trap!" Sunday comes with a breeze and more Mediterranean sunshine; the Spanish Prime Minister Uncle Pedro has announced today that he is going to start allowing tourism to return to Spain.   That is very good news for businesses all over Spain, less good news if you think that the tourists will come, create another wave of virus, then leave to their own more liberal countries whilst we face yet another lockdown in the Autumn.   Off this morning to water the plants at Petra’s and Justin’s big house on the corner.  Despite the great care that Pepe the Palm took in cutting down the fronds from the palm tree, some debris has got into the pool.  I had a go at f

Day 69 it is Saturday and a tale of majestic beauty and ticket fraud, the daily diary of a British couple in Lockdown, still, in Spain.   Find out more: https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 69   Saturday and the weekend has arrived with thirty plus temperatures, somewhere nearby somebody has some gentle Spanish guitar music playing and the birds are singing away.    The Alhambra Palaces have said they plan to open again on the 1st of June and are putting in place social distancing measures, so I guess fewer people allowed around the palaces in each timed trip.  So this might be one of the best times ever to see the Alhambra, it truly is a wonder.   There is a lot of tosh written about the Alhambra, ruddy American Washington Irving with his “Tales of the Alhambra” seriously muddied the waters between fact and fiction.  Some of the myths are quoted in some books as facts.   Published back in 1830, the book did help the restoration of the Palaces that had fallen into a poor state of decay.  Rather like the old med

Day 68 and the miserable news that we stay in phase 1 for yet another week.  The peasants are revolting in Madrid and the leader of the far left Podemos Party - Pablo Iglesias has had to call in police reinforcement to protect his luxury mansion in an exclusive part of Madrid from the hoards complaining that they do not have enough to eat.     Find out more at:  https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 68 More Pain in Spain   Friday and the day dawned full of promise but by the time afternoon came, God had emptied his full steaming privy over Granada, here in Spain.   I woke to a message from the plumber, he had found the American product to fix the little drip, drip, leak in the pool room and would come at ten.   He arrived at exactly at ten, this in itself is worthy of a small round of applause.  His face was like thunder though and he stomped down the stairs.  I tried to make small talk with him about the new road.  He just scowled at me and barked “no entiendo” raising his left hand up as he went down the stair

Today do you think you will be taking your summer holiday in Spain this year? Dirty deals behind closed doors and road works.   find out more here: https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 67 Holidays in Spain? Day 67   We have reached Thursday of Phase 1, Day 67 of Lockdown.  So many numbers, so many days so far.   The sweet sound of the birds singing in the trees, the gentle roar of the sea in the bay in the distance has been replaced by a terrific roar of the road gang who are re-surfacing the main road through our Estate,   We own the road although the local Town also are supposed to help us keep it roadworthy as it leads up to the Campo, the countryside beyond.   They have kind of glued a new surface to the old.  The danger of doing anything more is that a lot of the services run just a few inches under our road.    Back in Britain many roads were in a shocking state.  The High Street in the town we lived in – Chelmsford was little more than a dirt track with an open sewer running one side of it.   It took the

Day 66, and this is a story of an old man called Pepe, a palm tree and a trip into the little seaside town of Salobreña. Daily life behind the police lines in Spanish Lockdown. find out more here: https://www.thesecretspain.com   Day 66 Palm Sun Day Wednesday of phase 1 and yesterday evening we went along to the big house, belonging to our friends Petra and Justin.  We did a bit of watering; they have a great many planters filled with exotic plants that all get thirsty in the warm weather.   We also let in Pepe, and his wife, I would guess that Pepe is in his late fifties, maybe early sixties, it is hard to tell, he was one of those thick set, strong looking Spanish that come from families that have spent years of harsh back breaking agricultural work here, picking at the rock hard soil, that grows so much of what you are probably buying in the supermarket right now.   From avocados, pineapples, strawberries, tomatoes, kumquat, oranges, lemons, grapefruit. Throw it in the ground, water it and it grows.    The

Day 65, Tuesday and Phase 1 of the unlockdown, today stealing from the sun and the return of the peseta.   Find out more at: https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 65 Stealing from the Sun   We are in Phase 1 of Unlockdown – it is Tuesday and the weather is improving, bringing with it our hay fever.  We both suffer from it, I have to say that I didn’t really suffer in the UK, but although we live in the coast, it really gets me for about a month a year.   Some of culprits include the blossom from Olive trees, they do say if you consume the local honey it can help with immunity to hay fever.  The local honey is delicious, a bit like a floral toffee.  It comes in quite plain jars that have been filled from a great big vat of the stuff.   It is a bit like the water, which tastes delicious if you go to the spring just outside the village, we lived in.  Whilst we were living in the village we filled used water bottles with the water, it had a clean sweet taste to it.   I do ponder that with a solar panel array, some b

Day 64 of Lockdown, day one of Phase 1, and life is just starting to get back into gear, albeit with only a few small changes, here in Spain.  Today a story of why Ernie Wise influenced our decision to come to live in Spain.  Find out more at: https://www.thesecretspain.com

Day 63 and the reason we don't work Christmas Day anymore, how the Magna Carta protects us but not the Spanish.  A daily diary in Lockdown from a British couple behind the police lines in lockdown in Spain.   Find out more:  https://www.thesecretspain.com The Seaside Gazette https://www.theseasidegazette.com/ Day 63 Christmas and the Magna Carta It is day 63 of our Spanish Lockdown, tomorrow brings some freedom, I think, but in true Spanish Practices style there is a lot of confusion and weird rules.   Martin Myall from our local paper “The Seaside Gazette” writes, I quote:   “You can jump in the car with your kids and spouse, but you can’t go out walking together. You can, however, sit with them altogether on a bar terrace.   You can drive out into the mountains, but you can’t park up and go for a walk whilst you’re there.   What time you go for your walk or take your kids out for fresh air is restricted, but you can go to a bar or restaurant any time you want, as long as they are open.”   Thanks Martin. In

It is day 62 of our Spanish Lockdown and we have reached Phase 1, well on Monday, here in Granada and Malaga, hooray.  But there are plenty of rules to follow.  This is our daily diary of life here and a glimpse back into the past when we worked for LBC Radio in London. Find out more here: https://www.thesecretspain.com Full uncorrected transcript: Day 62   It is day 62 of our Spanish Lockdown and the good news is that we can go to Phase 1 of the un-lockdown process here in Andalucia, Spain, from Monday morning.   Of course there are a magnitude of rules to follow, and places and things you can’t go to or do, but it is a start, it will also help local business get back to work, it will require social distancing, that will easily be the weakest link in the plan.   Meanwhile in Madrid which is still stuck in phase zero and a bit, ..yes the Government have changed the rules yet again.  The posh residents of Salamanca district are revolting.  Some of them believe that this is just a power grab for the central gov

Day 61  and this is the story of a British couple behind the police lines in Lockdown Spain, the real story of day to day life under the Alarma. The frustrations of a loss of freedom despite the Health Region reaching the criteria for the easing of Lockdown, the Government have decided though to keep us in Lockdown. Find out more: https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 61 - Civil Unrest and Manic Mondays It is Day 61 of our Spanish Lockdown, we have reached the point last week when we were hoping for a bit of freedom, by the end of today we should know, but last week the government didn’t tell us until Sunday afternoon.   Just the ability to pop to the main town would be helpful, a few restaurants open anything that would bring a touch of normality to our life.   Yesterday we spoke to our friends Shelley and Chris back in Essex.  Apart from going for walks they have not left the house, though will need to next week to pick up medicine in central London. They will drive in and only one visit the Doctors.  They sho

We have reached Day 60 and frankly have had enough, but we are taking courage by channeling my Great Great Grandmother (Pictured in the episode art) This is the story of a British couple behind the police lines in Lockdown Spain, the real story of day to day life under the Alarma. Find out more: https://www.thesecretspain.com Here for: Natalie's Golf Conditioning Podcast  Day 60   It is Day 60 of our Spanish Lockdown and we have had enough, enough of the weather, enough of not being allowed, sensibly and with distancing, to live our lives, oh and definitely enough of the stupidity of some Spanish Government Ministers.   Yesterday the Minister for Consumers Alberto Garzón stood up and  said that “Tourism is not a strategic sector of the Spanish Economy”. Consequently the Government will not put any effort into starting the tourist sector up again, until next year.   Stupidly putting the jobs of millions of Spaniards at risk. Uncle Alberto also went on to say that it wasn’t important because “the sector only wo

Day fifty nine. Life behind the police lines in Lockdown Spain for a British couple and their three good legs cat. Today Bosoms and Birthdays Find out more at: https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 59 bosoms and birthdays   It is Day 59 of our Spanish Lockdown, Wednesday, there is a rumour that Mercadona has masks for sale in its stores, and if so we will buy some.   I notice that the UK Government is encouraging people to make their own out of sticky back plastic and a pair of Val’s old knickers, since the episode with the Blue Peter Advent Calendar where my poor construction of the thing allowed family retainer Reg to be scalded with boiling wax.. I would rather leave surgical mask making to, .. surgical mask makers.   The day is dry and there is some sunshine, enough to clear up the mess of dirty rain that fell last night covering every surface in Sahara sand, three good legs cat is having a bad day, he has had several of his ‘fits’ and horrifying sight where his right back leg comes unjointed and clearly giv